Quotes about champion
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“We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champion abroad. We have done great good in the world. That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don't. We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldn't deserve to.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

Speech at the National Constitution Center in Pennsylvania http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/politics/john-mccain-joe-biden-liberty-medal/index.html (October 2017) 2010s, 2017

World, Home

“Whereas it might be erroneous to claim that the literature, art, and music of the Harlem Renaissance revolutionized the practice of democracy in the United States, it would not be an error to point out that the ideas they championed did impact America's understanding, and subsequently its application, of democracy.”

Aberjhani (1957) author

(Author's Note, p. xvii).
Book Sources, Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (2003)

Art, Music, Error, Democracy

“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry.
I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.
But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.
For instance, that picture [when Franken appears to grope the breasts of a sleeping Leeann Tweeden, while simultaneously smiling towards the photographer] I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.”

Al Franken (1951) American comedian and politician

November 2017 statement https://www.wdio.com/news/al-franken-statement-leeann-tweeden/4672510/ in response to allegations of sexual harassment and groping made by Leeann Tweeden against Franken.

Women, Men, People, Fear

“If I wanted to have an easy job I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me.”

José Mourinho (1963) Portuguese association football player and manager

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1033132.html 2004

God, Beauty

“The public-choice theorists would have us believe that nobody ever gets involved in governments or the political arena out of a desire to accomplish public goals…. Needless to say, the notion that citizens would voluntarily band together to fight injustice and poverty in faraway parts of the world is incomprehensible to this kind of thinking. This perhaps explains the frequent attempt to dismiss those in the anti-globalization movement as nothing more than a group of self-seeking opportunists - as if there is some kind of money to be made in championing debt elimination for the Third World.”

Linda McQuaig (1951) journalist and author

All You Can Eat: Greed, Lust and the New Capitalism (2001)

Money, World, Thinking, Fight

“Two of Chicago’s four city pension funds will be bankrupt within a few years, according to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. You’d think that’s a scenario unions – the supposed champions for public-employee retirements – would want to avoid.
But not in Chicago. Unions are fighting to block any kind of pension reform, effectively locking in bankruptcy for city-employee pension systems.”

Rahm Emanuel (1959) politician, investment banker, White House Chief of Staff

Benjamin VanMetre, Unions to Bankrupt Chicago Pension Funds https://www.illinoispolicy.org/unions-to-bankrupt-chicago-pension-funds/, IllinoisPolicy.org, December 29, 2014 About

Thinking, Fight

“To become a world chess champion.”

Viswanathan Anand (1969) Indian chess player

At the age of six when some one asked him as to what he wanted to become.
Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower

World

“The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships. He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered. All modern civilization depends entirely upon him.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 12
Context: I am doing my best to glorify the scamp or vagabond. I hope I shall succeed. For things are not so simple as they sometimes seem. In this present age of threats to democracy and individual liberty, probably only the scamp and the spirit of the scamp alone will save us from being lost in serially numbered units in the masses of disciplined, obedient, regimented and uniformed coolies. The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships. He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered. All modern civilization depends entirely upon him.

Freedom, Dependency

“There is an emerging alternative to the big government-big business-big labor kind of "rebuilding" of America. Its basic strategy is to get investment capital out of the hands of the big banks … and into the hands of the communities. Its greatest champions are neither politicians nor oppositional political groups, but – remarkably – bankers; or, more specifically, those few bankers who describe themselves as "community development bankers."”

Mark Satin (1946) American political theorist, author, and newsletter publisher

Source: New Options for America (1991), Chapter 8, "Rebuilding America – the Old-Fashioned Way," p. 57.

Communication, Business

“…as regards to teaching of languages, he (Rizal) advocated, among other things, the study of Tagalog. Since he was eight years of age, Rizal championed his native tongue as a language of its own pure type, noble and exalted”

Epifanio de los Santos (1871–1928) Filipino politician

Philippine Magazine. Manila,: Philippine Education Co.(Vol. 34, no.1) p. 35

Age, Study

“Yeah, congratulations. Way to go, Punk, way to go. Congratulations on your big win. You need to enjoy them while you can. You see, you can smirk if you want to, but I see straight through you. When I look at you, I see a fraud. And I'm not talking about the fact that you call yourself the best in the world, I'm talking about you as a person. Because I did a little research this week, Punk, and I found something, a little deep, dirty, dark secret about you. You've been straight edge ever since you came to the WWE, but you've never explained the reasons why. I wanna tell all of these wannabes why you're straight edge. I wanna tell them that you're straight edge because your father is an alcoholic.
Yeah, that's right. Your father was an alcoholic who let you down every step of the way when you were growing up, and it terrifies you. You don't want to end up like him. But it's inevitable that you will, because alcohol is in your blood, it's in your genes, it's part of who you are, and that tortures you. I know you've built this facade, this wall that you're a sarcastic antihero with not a care in the world, but I think I've found something that you care about. I've found something that gives you nightmares, something that terrifies you.
And isn't it ironic that the very alcohol that you crave is the same thing that ruined your childhood? Oh, the nightmares you must have about your father; I almost feel bad for you, Punk. Is that the reason why you have all those tattoos? Was the pain of wanting to drink so bad that you needed the pain of a tattoo needle to take it out of your mind? Was that your only solace?
It doesn't matter if it is, Punk, because you are going to drink eventually, and I'm the one who is going to make you drink. At WrestleMania XXVIII, I'm going to take away your title, I'm gonna take away your claims of being the best in the world, I'm gonna take away your bravado, and I'm gonna leave you a broken man. You're gonna hit bottom, Punk, and when you do, you're going to embrace your destiny, and you're gonna take a drink. And it's gonna taste so good that you're gonna wanna take another one, and another one, and another one. After April 1st, I'm gonna be recognized for who I am—the undisputed best in the world and the new WWE Champion. And you're gonna be recognized for who you are, who your father was—a pathetic damn drunk!”

Chris Jericho (1970) American professional wrestler, musician, television host, podcast host and author

March 12, 2012 - WWE Raw

Pain, Alcohol, Secret, World

“What the Democratic Party has most liked to say about itself—that it is the party of the working man, the voice of the oppressed, the tribune of the people—loses some of its strut in the light of a rather long list of inconvenient facts, chiefly having to do with slavery and race. Such facts as these: that the Democrats were the party that championed chattel bondage, backed an expansionist war to expand slavery's realm, and corrupted the Supreme Court in order to open the western territories to the cancer. The party's Southern wing then led the nation into civil war in defense of slavery while its Northern wing did its best to stymie the administration of Abraham Lincoln, widely regarded by the Democrats as an accidental, even illegitimate, president. Thereafter, the party embraced Jim Crow as slavery's next-best substitute, elected a president who imposed segregation on the federal workforce, and remained the chief opponent of racial equality…”

Allen C. Guelzo (1953) American historian

2000s, Good Democrats and Bad Democrats (2006)

War, People, Light

“It breaks immortality's neck
Contemplates crime and therefore halts it;
It humbles barbarous nations
And makes of savages, champions.”

José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist

"Por La Education" (To Education, c. 1876) - translator unknown

“Let him leave his home town and try to invade the United States and beat Bernard Hopkins, a great champion, a legend.”

Bernard Hopkins (1965) American boxer

On Joe Calzaghe, as quoted in "Hopkins turns up heat on Calzaghe"at BBC News (14 November 2007) http://news2.thdo.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7084427.stm 2000s, 2007

Home

“Disco dancing is really dancing for people who hate dancing, since the beat is so monotonous that only the champions can find interesting ways of reacting to it. There is no syncopation, just the steady thump of a giant moron knocking in an endless nail.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

'The flying feet of Frankie Foo'
Essays and reviews, The Crystal Bucket (1982)

Hate, People, Way, Dance

“From a historical point of view, the injustice against blacks was perpetrated mostly by governments. Private business does not go in for race-based policies, because it means excluding paying customers.
And this is precisely why racialists, nationalists, and hard-core bigots have always opposed liberal capitalism: it includes and excludes based on the cash nexus and without regard to features that collectivists of all sorts regard as important. In the imagined utopias of the national socialists, the champions of commerce are hanged from lampposts as race traitors and enemies of the nation.”

Lew Rockwell (1944) American libertarian author and editor

As quoted in "The Freedom of Association" http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/freedom-of-association145.html (1 June 2010). 2010s

Imagination, Business

“Bettinson lays out opinions on new weight classes and championship belts: "The question of uniformity of weight is most desirable" says Bettinson, "but there are other matters that also demand attention. So far weights are concerned, if a lad at 8st 8lb has proved himself best at that weight and is willing to dispute the premiership with any other boxer in the world, he is as much entitled to call himself champion of the world at 8st 8lb as is the equally unbeatable champion who is 2lb heavier. But yet we cannot afford to have too many classes for recognised world’s championship titles, and the eight divisions suggested by the ‘Sporting Life’ seem ample to meet all requirements. Let the weights be decided later, however.”

Arthur Frederick Bettinson (1862–1926) Manager and promoter of the National Sporting Club

Life, World, Question, Sport

“It has been a fantastic weekend and now I probably need some time to believe I'm champion again. I'm 25 years old and I've won two drivers' championships and two constructors' titles with Renault. With this being my last race for Renault after five years with them, what a fantastic way to finish my relationship. I will have these memories all my life, winning both titles, the emotion, the atmosphere in the garage. We grew up together and now we have won both championships in two consecutive years. The years I have had with Renault, I will never forget. To finish the last race the way we have is something you never dream of. You never even try to dream of it because it's always more than what you expected.”

Fernando Alonso (1981) Spanish racing driver

About leaving the Renault team http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_Page/0,15909,3210_3463_1626080,00.html (October 23, 2006)

Life, Dreams, Way, Memory

“Many businesses in Yorkshire want the security and stability of Britain’s continued membership of the European Union, a cause I look forward to championing passionately in this place and elsewhere.”

Jo Cox (1974–2016) UK politician

Devolution and Growth Across Britain (19 June 2015)

Business, Passion

“Nothing was or is farther from my intentions, than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion, where I have only expressed doubt.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Letter to Joel Barlow (8 October 1809); Jefferson here expresses an aversion to supporting the "fixed opinion" that blacks were not equal to whites in general mental capacities, which he asserts in his Notes on the State of Virginia he had advanced as "a suspicion only".
1800s, Post-Presidency (1809)

“Punk: "The WWE Championship, in its physical form, was stolen from me and is currently held by someone who doesn't deserve it. Someone who doesn't pay the price. Someone who doesn't understand what it means... to be champion."”

Phil Brooks (1978) American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

February 04, 2013
WWE Raw

Understanding

“There are more idealized definitions of capitalism, but I refer to the real capitalism—the kind we are living with. This capitalism is grounded in an elitist ideology of individualism supported by an institutional system devoted to the concentration and abuse of wealth for the exclusive benefit of a private ruling oligarchy. It is the capitalism that claims to champion democracy and markets even as it destroys them. The capitalism that claims to bring universal prosperity even wile denying it to all but its most favored servants. The capitalism that destroys life to make money and organizes as a suicide economy that destroys the foundations of its own existence—and ours.”

David Korten book When Corporations Rule the World

Source: When Corporations Rule the World (1995,2015), pp. 20-21

Life, Money, Democracy, Support

“What’s odd about Friedman’s absolutism on the virtues of markets and the vices of government is that in his work as an economist’s economist he was actually a model of restraint. As I pointed out earlier, he made great contributions to economic theory by emphasizing the role of individual rationality—but unlike some of his colleagues, he knew where to stop. Why didn’t he exhibit the same restraint in his role as a public intellectual?
The answer, I suspect, is that he got caught up in an essentially political role. Milton Friedman the great economist could and did acknowledge ambiguity. But Milton Friedman the great champion of free markets was expected to preach the true faith, not give voice to doubts. And he ended up playing the role his followers expected. As a result, over time the refreshing iconoclasm of his early career hardened into a rigid defense of what had become the new orthodoxy.
In the long run, great men are remembered for their strengths, not their weaknesses, and Milton Friedman was a very great man indeed—a man of intellectual courage who was one of the most important economic thinkers of all time, and possibly the most brilliant communicator of economic ideas to the general public that ever lived. But there’s a good case for arguing that Friedmanism, in the end, went too far, both as a doctrine and in its practical applications. When Friedman was beginning his career as a public intellectual, the times were ripe for a counterreformation against Keynesianism and all that went with it. But what the world needs now, I’d argue, is a counter-counterreformation.”

Paul Krugman (1953) American economist

"Who Was Milton Friedman?", The New York Review of Books (February 15, 2007)
The New York Review of Books articles

Men, World, Faith, Communication

“I always felt tired when I used to eat meat—I got sick of that. Also, I wanted to start a serious training/nutritional program for my surfing competitions. I tried it out (not eating meat) and loved it—I felt so healthy and energetic. I’ve never looked back since! … I believe those (meat) companies … should just think of their pets—if they would like their pets treated like that—and then ask them if they want to continue doing that. … Definitely I want to become a world champion surfer one day, but more importantly, being a good role model for kids and promoting a clean lifestyle.”

Anastasia Ashley (1987) American surfer and model

"Anastasia Ashley: Too Beautiful", interview with peta2 (19 January 2012) https://www.peta2.com/news/anastasia-ashley-too-beautiful/.

Love, World, Thinking, Training

“To the Whigs of the seventeenth century we owe it that we have a House of Commons. To the Whigs of the nineteenth century we owe it that the House of Commons has been purified. The abolition of the slave-trade, the abolition of colonial slavery, the extension of popular education, the mitigation of the rigour of the penal code, all, all were effected by that party; and of that party, I repeat, I am a member. I look with pride on all that the Whigs have done for the cause of human freedom and of human happiness. I see them now hard pressed, struggling with difficulties, but still fighting the good fight. At their head I see men who have inherited the spirit and the virtues, as well as the blood, of old champions and martyrs of freedom…While one shred of the old banner is flying, by that banner will I at least be found.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

Speech http://www.bartleby.com/349/authors/133.html to the electors at Edinburgh (May 1839)

Men, Happiness, Education, Freedom

“We had nonbelievers all along the way, and I have one thing to say to those nonbelievers: Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!”

Rudy Tomjanovich (1948) American basketball player and coach

(NBA.com) 1995 NBA Finals: Rockets Earn Respect With Finals Sweep http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19941995.html

Way, Heart

“Destiny’s Champion,
Fate’s fool.
Eternity’s Soldier,
Time’s Tool.”

Michael Moorcock book Phoenix in Obsidian

Book 3 “Visions and Revelations” Epigram (p. 394)
Phoenix in Obsidian (1970)

Fate, Fools, Time

“India cricket team realised its number one status, we won the Twenty20 World Cup, The 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy. I am proud to be a part of the core group that laid the foundation.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

India became a sporting nation in the last decade: Kumble

World, Parting

“I played this game to win a championship. I am a champion, and I think The Bus’ last stop is here in Detroit.”

Jerome Bettis (1972) Former American football running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers

Bettis announcing his retirement following the Steelers’ Super Bowl victory in his hometown of Detroit (February 5, 2006http://www.hwwilson.com/_home/bios/1992060806.htm

Game, Thinking

“I like women a lot and I champion them. I tell people when they are beautiful, I tell other actresses when I think their work is amazing… So I think women feel relatively comfortable in my presence. Also, because I'm not perfect, you know? I've got flabby thighs, I'm aging and I'm 5ft 3in. I talk about my failing in contemporary society in terms of gyms or food or whatever. I think there's a polite appreciation that I'm honest.”

Gillian Anderson (1968) American-British film, television and theatre actress, activist and writer

On being appreciated by women — Net-a-Porter "Gillian Anderson on finding Scully again and her chemistry with David Duchovny" https://www.net-a-porter.com/magazine/333/11 (January 14, 2016) 2010s

Women, People, Age, Food

“We had then and still have to fight a two-front battle. Ranged against us on the one hand are those who denounce us for our alleged ‘departure from the principles of nationalism and socialism’, since we are championing ‘sectarian’ causes like those of oppressed castes and religious minorities. On the other hand are those who, in the name of defending the oppressed caste masses, in fact, isolate them from the mainstream of the united struggle of the working people irrespective of caste, communities and so on.”

E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1909–1998) Indian politician

On special role of caste in Indian society in page=12.
History, Society, and Land Relations: Selected Essays

People, Communication, Departure, Fight

“I just think they’re douchebags. They’re not champions. I just think they’re losers. I don’t like them. How do I explain the fact that I got a GQ Man of the Year award and no women’s magazines and no women’s organisations have supported me?”

Rose McGowan (1973) American actress

thedailybeast / rose-mcgowan-rips-lily-livered-metoo-hypocrites-as-douchebags 8 October 2018

Women, Support, Thinking

“Animal products have no place in a healthy diet. As a champion boxer, I need to keep my body in top physical shape. Since I've stopped eating meat, I'm stronger, faster, and… happier! My whole life is better.”

Maureen Shea (1981) American boxer

Print ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (2008), in “Celebrities' Veggie Testimonials,” PETA.org https://www.peta.org/features/celebrities-veggie-testimonials/.

Life, Animals

“In 1960, the U. S. population was 89% white. By 1990, it was 76%. Today, it is under 70%. By 2050, white Americans, the most loyal voting bloc the Republican Party has, that provides 90% of all GOP votes, will be just another minority because of an immigration policy championed by Republicans. When John Stuart Mill called the Tories "the Stupid Party," he was not entirely wrong.”

Patrick Buchanan (1938) American politician and commentator

2010s, State of Emergency (2006)

Stupidity

“Labour should be robust in supporting free and democratic trade unions throughout Europe, in championing a balance of interests in corporate governance and strong civic self-government with a deep partnership between universities, cities and firms. The question is whether being part of the EU hinders this. Britain is already outside the Eurozone and the Schengen agreement. It is gratuitous to remain part of a political union that is so hostile to diversity and democracy and so disposed to the consolidation of big capital that it has become a remorseless machine for the liberalisation of trade and the disintegration of society, in which the demand for liquidity has dissolved solidarity.”

Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman (1961) British philosopher

The case against remaining in the EU on LabourList.org, 2 June 2016 http://labourlist.org/2016/06/why-should-labour-support-the-european-union-the-case-for-out/

Hostility, Democracy, Question, Support

“I know that I'm not the prettiest one, I'm not having big boobies or I'm not American, but I want people to remember me as the best female fighter, undefeated in MMA, and the UFC champion of the world”

Joanna Jędrzejczyk (1987) Polish mixed martial artist

Joanna Jedrzejczyk: I may not be ‘the prettiest' or have ‘big boobies,' but I ‘want people to remember me as the best', Shaun Al-Shatti, November 2, 2016, August 5, 2017 https://www.mmafighting.com/2016/11/2/13504424/joanna-jedrzejczyk-i-may-not-be-the-prettiest-or-have-big-boobies-but, Jędrzejczyk sharing her dream as a mixed martial artist at UFC 205 pre-fight press conference.

People, World

“I achieved something once again, I think we all want to put a mark on life. I dream, and my dreams always come true. I dreamed I was the heavyweight champion of the world. I am the heavyweight champion of the world.”

Larry Holmes (1949) American boxer

As quoted in "Sport: Larry Holmes: I Still Have It" by Tom Callahan in TIME (21 June 1982).

Life, World, Dreams, Thinking

“America, the only nation ever founded in the name of liberty, never had a more ardent champion of liberty than Barry Goldwater. Simply put, Barry Goldwater was in love with freedom.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

As quoted in "Goldwater Called 'Great Patriot'" at CBS News (29 May 1998) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/05/29/national/main10557.shtml http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLATQAU-Hw0 McCain was Barry Goldwater's 1986 senate successor from Arizona. 1990s

Love, Freedom

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can't.”

Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) American boxer

Dempsey's definition of a champion. http://www.hennessysports.com/Article.asp?art=214

Inspirational, Graduation

“I am proud and honored to be joining President-elect Trump’s administration as his Secretary of Agriculture,” Perdue said Thursday. “Beginning as a simple Georgia farm boy, making sure Americans who make their livelihood in the agriculture industry are thriving is near and dear to my heart, and I’m going to champion the concerns of American agriculture and work tirelessly to solve the issues facing our farm families in this new role.”

Sonny Perdue (1946) 31st and current United States Secretary of Agriculture and 81st Governor of Georgia

January 2017

Family, Boy, Heart

“The late Sifu Wong Shun Leung, of “Hong Kong” wing chun fame, in his seminars around the world over the years, liked to make a comparison with the modern combat sport of Western boxing, which he observed had changed quite dramatically over just the last sixty or so years, from the crouching-like postures of boxers like Joe Louis in the 30s and 40s, to the flashy footwork of the likes of Muhammad Ali in the 60s and 70s, through to the more upright and flat-footed approach of recent champions such as Mike Tyson.”

Wong Shun Leung (1935–1997) martial artist

Boxing Source: WING CHUN HISTORY, An alternative viewpoint, by David Peterson http://wslwingchun.resolvedesign.com/wing_chun_history_an_alternative_viewpoint_by_david_peterson.htm

World, Sport, Change, Box

“I'm the smartest man in the world. Once I wore a cape in public, and fought battles against men who could fly, who had metal skin, who could kill you with their eyes. I fought CoreFire to a standstill, and the Super Squadron, and the Champions. Now I have to shuffle through a cafeteria line with men who tried to pass bad checks. Now I have to wonder if there will be chocolate milk in the dispenser. And whether the smartest man in the world has done the smartest thing he could with his life.”

Austin Grossman book Soon I Will Be Invincible

Source: Soon I Will Be Invincible (2007), Ch. 1: Foiled Again

Life, Men, World, Flying

“Where is he, the champion and the child
Of all that's great or little, wise or wild”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

St. 3.
The Age of Bronze (1823)
Context: Where is he, the champion and the child
Of all that's great or little, wise or wild;
Whose game was empires, and whose stakes were thrones;
Whose table earth — whose dice were human bones?

“Remember, FDA employees are serious about fear. We pay these people to panic about an iota of rodent hair in our chili, even when the recipe calls for it. FDA employees are first-class agonizers, world champions at losing sleep. When Meryl Streep got hysterical about Alar, they actually checked the apples instead of Meryl's head.”

P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist

All the Trouble in the World (1994)

People, World, Fear, Sleep

“The memory of Tom Paine will outlive all this. No man who helped to lay the foundations of our liberty — who stepped forth as the champion of so difficult a cause — can be permanently obscured by such attacks.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

The Philosophy of Paine (1925)
Context: The memory of Tom Paine will outlive all this. No man who helped to lay the foundations of our liberty — who stepped forth as the champion of so difficult a cause — can be permanently obscured by such attacks. Tom Paine should be read by his countrymen. I commend his fame to their hands.

Pain, Memory, Help

“In an autobiography one must surely be allowed to boast, just for fun. I have, at a range of twenty feet, shot the tobacco out of a cigarette and left the paper intact. At a range of thirty feet, I have split a target, edge towards me, with an air pistol. I am also the world's champion in a game called "You Are the Target," in which anyone better than I would be dead. The game is to shoot an arrow straight up and see how near to you it can be allowed to land. You have to watch its fall very carefully, but I have had it hit the ground exactly between my feet. Of course, there were no witnesses. Had there been, they would forcefully have discouraged the experiment. I was using a fifty-five pound bow.”

Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker

Source: In My Own Way: An Autobiography 1915-1965 (1972), p. 18

World, Game, Dead

“I had Chavo Guerrero in mind a lot when I was writing this play…Chavo’s job was to make guys look better than they were, which meant he lost a lot. And he was so skilled at it that there weren’t a lot of guys who could play that same fall-guy role for him so that he could be the champion.”

Kristoffer Diaz American writer

On the inspiration for his play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity in “Playwright Kristoffer Diaz steps into the ring” https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-aug-21-la-ca-chad-deity-20110821-story.html in the Los Angeles Times (2011 Aug 21)

Making love, Guy

“America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights. She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet on her brows would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world; she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.... Her glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of the mind. She has a spear and a shield: but the motto upon her shield is, Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)

Independence Day address (1821)

Friendship, War, World, Peace

“Undisputed heavyweight champion.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Well, if it's undisputed, what's all the fighting about?
Books, Napalm and Silly Putty (2001)

“For inspiration I look to those great players who consistently found original ways to shock their opponents. None did this better than the eighth world champion, Mikhail Tal.”

Garry Kasparov (1963) former chess world champion

The "Magician of Riga" rose to become champion in 1960 at age twenty-three and became famous for his aggressive, volatile play.
Part I, Chapter 5, Talent, p. 60-61
2000s, How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

World, Way

“The American Left champions causes such as gay rights (including gay marriage), equality for women (suffrage, the right to work, etc.), and religious freedom (usually in the form of freedom from religion). Yet, fundamentalist Islam opposes nearly everything the American Left stands for. In many Islamic countries, homosexuality is punishable by death. In Iran, a top government official recently said that torture followed by death is the appropriate punishment for being gay. In Saudi Arabia, women can’t vote, run for public office, or drive cars. Women are routinely jailed and beaten for merely being in the presence of a man not related to them. The Saudi version of Dr. Phil provides televised lessons to men on how to properly beat their wives. In many Islamic countries, women are forced into arranged marriages and held as property by their husbands, something not exactly in line with progressive Western thinking. In some Muslim countries, women aren’t even allowed to decide what clothes to wear. To reveal even the smallest patch of skin is a crime. Religious freedom is often nonexistent under Islamic rule. In countries like Afghanistan and Iran, people who convert from Islam to another religion face public execution. So why does the American Left hate Christianity yet love Islam?”

Chuck Hustmyre (1963) American journalist

2000s, 2009, The Left's love affair with Islam (2009)

Love, Death, Women, Men

“His stewardship of the upper house proved his merit for presidentship. His ruling in the Rajya Sabha, blending humour and firmness established him as a champion of Parliamentary dignity and traditions.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, P.233.

Housing

“Apart from being a true Muslim, he represented the secular character of our democratic constitution. People of all creed, colour and class sought his blessings and derived guidance from him. He expressed his views candidly on the whole range of national and international issues. He had won acclaim throughout the world. The whole world recognized him as a champion of peace and harmony.”

Zakir Hussain (politician) (1897–1969) 3rd President of India

Congress Working Committee, in: p. 347.
About Zakir Hussain, Quest for Truth (1999)

People, World, Peace

“Starting his career as a Trade Unionist when Trade Unionism was not prominent of public life, he came to occupy the highest office of this country, with dignity and charm. It was a day of Victory for the labour and Weaker Sections of the Society, when he became the President of India winning a political battle with popular support. He was a fearless champion of the cause of the poor and the working classes. He was always insisting upon cleaner methods in public life. As a labour leader he did not allow Trade Unions to be involved in political activities. He was a stalwart of Indian Nationalism.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Source: Presidents of India, 1950-2003, p. 84

Life, Support, Victory, Country

“The former President of India, has made outstanding contributions towards designing and evolving labor policy in India. He was a champion of labor movement and a person who was largely responsible for ensuring that labor and employment issues figured prominently in all policy discussions relating to growth and development.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Mallikarjun Kharge in: Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Minister of Labour and Employment conferred the V.V. Giri Memorial Award 2009 on Prof. Ravi Srivastava of the Jawaharlal Nehru University http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=64546, Press Information Bureau, 10 August 2010

Relation ships, Personality

“Thiago has the physical and technical characteristics of a champion.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Paolo Maldini, 2009 http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2009/agosto/25/Maldini_Milan_credici__ga_10_090825047.shtml From former and current footballers

“An iconoclastic dancer, visionary institution builder, educationalist, elite woman privileged to travel the world when she was barely 25 years of age and empowered to work for global causes in Europe, Australia, England and America. Also perceived as uncompromising traditionalist, quintessential South Indian Brahmin girl, champion of animal rights, woman parliamentarian, craft revivalist, social reformer, cultural educator, and national icon.”

Rukmini Devi Arundale (1904–1986) Indian Bharatnatyam dancer

Dr Avanthi Meduri in "Rukmini Devi Arundale, 1904-1986: A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts", page=xiii
About Rukmini Devi

Age, World, Education, Travel

“It is a pity for F1 to lose such a great champion, but the time to stop comes to everyone.”

Michael Schumacher (1969) German racing driver

Gerhard Berger, Former Ferrari Formula One driver
BBC SPORT: Thoughts on Schumacher (2006)

Time

“I think we lose and we will miss a great champion on the track. He beat all the records so he has the best numbers in Formula One but I think maybe F1 will focus more on sport after that.”

Michael Schumacher (1969) German racing driver

Fernando Alonso, Formula One world champion and rival
BBC SPORT: Thoughts on Schumacher (2006)

Thinking, Sport

“Del Piero is a champion with extraordinary technical ability and wonderful characteristics. When he is selected he never disappoints. He is an example to us all.”

Alessandro Del Piero (1974) Italian former professional footballer

"He has great skills and intuitions that few other players have". "He is a captain in the real sense of the word". Marcello Lippi, SoccerItalia.net http://www.socceritalia.net/applications/NewsManager/inc_newsmanager.asp?ItemID=3400&pcid=12&cid=41&archive=yes, JuventusFootball http://web.archive.org/20020312015446/www.geocities.com/juventusfootball/news/archived01/102401.htm

Disappointment

“He should’ve been the only heavyweight anybody ever thought of when they thought about the greatest heavyweight champion. I mean he had everything. He could punch, he could box. He was mean and determined.”

Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) American boxer

Trainer Ray Arcelhttp://coxscorner.tripod.com/jdempsey.html

Box

“But speaking about Liverpool and speaking about honouring the champions, this is my time to honour a champion. It is my time to honour Steve Gerrard. It is with opponents like him that I am the manager that I am, because I learn with my players and I learn with my best opponents. I tried to bring him to Chelsea, I tried to bring him to Inter (Milan), I tried to bring him to Real Madrid but he was always a dear enemy.”

Steven Gerrard (1980) English footballer

Jose Mourinho on Steven Gerrard, (8th May 2015) http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/jose-mourinho-on-steven-gerrard-i-tried-to-sign-him-three-times-he-is-one-of-my-favourite-enemies-10236838.html

Learning, Time

“His death has deprived us of a great champion - one that I loved very much. My past is scarred with grief; parents, brother, son. My life is full of sad memories. I look back and see the faces of my loved ones, and among them I see him.”

Gilles Villeneuve (1950–1982) Canadian racecar driver

Enzo Ferrari - Donaldson, pg. 322

Love, Life, Death, Sadness

“His win today at the French Open, tying Pete Sampras’s record for major titles and the completion of a career grand slam firmly places him in a special place as the greatest player of all time. He has earned his place and he has proven he belongs. Roger is a champion for the ages.”

Roger Federer (1981) Swiss tennis player

Billie Jean King, winner of 39 Grand Slams, after Federer won the 2009 French Open Final http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/news?slug=reu-openfederergreat&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Age, Time

“Formerly admired almost universally as the preeminent champion of human rights, the United States now has become one of the foremost targets of respected international organizations concerned about these basic principles of democratic life. Some of our actions are similar to those of abusive regimes that we have historically condemned.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Pages 117-118
Post-Presidency, Our Endangered Values (2005)

Life, Universe

“Sometimes we try to justify this unsavory business on the cynical ground that by rationing out the means of violence we can somehow control the world’s violence. The fact is that we cannot have it both ways. Can we be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war?”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

"A Community of the Free" address at the The Foreign Policy Association NY, NY (23 June 1976); this is often paraphrased: We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.
Pre-Presidency

War, World, Peace, Way

“Man is the greatest being endowed with independence, creativity and consciousness and, at the same time, a beautiful creature who champions justice. Man, by nature, aspires to virtue and ennobling qualities and detests all that is evil and dirty. These unique features constitute his human traits.”

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

With the century, vol. 4

Justice, Beauty, Nature, Evil

“The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime, it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths. Yet in retrospect, we see how the artist's fidelity has strengthened the fiber of our national life. If sometimes our great artist have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, Speech at Amherst College

Life, Truth, World, Making love

“Under all circumstances we shall remain the champions of democracy and humanity. We reject as senseless and cruel and ruinous to both our cause and our nation the suggestion that we strive to arrive at humanity by the method of brutality.”

Karl Kautsky (1854–1938) Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theoretician

Chap. V, The Period of Dictatorship "Hitlerism and Social Democracy" (1934) https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1934/hitler/index.htm

Democracy

“The choice of methods and weapons to be used by the champions of democracy will not depend upon our wishes but will be determined by political and social conditions. and especially by the methods and weapons of the enemy.”

Karl Kautsky (1854–1938) Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theoretician

Chap. V, The Period of Dictatorship "Hitlerism and Social Democracy" (1934) https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1934/hitler/index.htm

Democracy, Dependency

“To be a liberal means to believe in human freedom. It means to believe in human beings. It means to champion that form of social and political order which releases the greatest amount of human energy; permits greatest liberty for individuals and groups, in planning and living their lives; cherishes freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of action, limited by only one thing: the protection of the freedom of others.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 64

Freedom

“Growing up the way I did, I learned how easy it is for white people to get comfortable with a system that awards them all the perks. I knew my cousins were getting beaten for things that I'd done, but I wasn't interested in changing my grandmother's perspective, because that would mean I'd get beaten, too. Why would I do that? So that I'd feel better? Being beaten didn't make me feel better. I had a choice. I could champion racial justice in our home, or I could enjoy granny's cookies. I went with the cookies.”

Trevor Noah book Born a Crime

page 52/53
Born a Crime

People, Making love, Justice, Way

“The conscience exists, standing before us now asking not to be created or perfected but to be chosen and defended, in need of champions, not exiles. Any fiction which refuses that request is henceforth a collaborationist fiction.”

Carl Oglesby (1935–2011) American political activist

"The Deserters: The Contemporary Defeat of Fiction" (1972)

Perfection

“I’m going to go out there and represent the U.S.A., represent World Champions Centre, and represent Black and brown girls over the world. At the end of the day, I’m not representing U.S.A. Gymnastics.”

Simone Biles (1997) American gymnast

"Simone Biles and the Weight of Perfection" in The New York Times (24 July 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/sports/olympics/simone-biles-gymnastics.html

World, Girl

“We've seen a parade of multinational corporations, financial institutions, Hollywood actors, and even American sports superstars joining a shameless stampede to see who can pander most effectively to a regime that is the reigning world champion of predatory economic behavior, human rights abuses, and even genocide.”

Tom Tiffany (1957) American businessman and politician

Exclusive—Rep. Tom Tiffany: Time for U.S. to Recognize Reality by Recognizing Taiwan https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2021/12/02/exclusive-rep-tom-tiffany-time-for-u-s-to-recognize-reality-by-recognizing-taiwan/ (2 December 2021)

World, Behavior, Sport

“Refuse to be a subject of ignorance people. Do what can change their minds for good. Because, in the champions of them, lies no comfort of humanity.”

Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach (1995)

People, Change

Quotes about champion page 3

Quotes about champion
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